7th Year Snapshots
by open hearts catch dreams
Summary: glimpses of the funny and eventful happenings during the Marauders, Lily's and Prue's last year at Hogwarts. I'm not brilliant at Summaries, this is my first go. Rating just to be safe, possibly more a K though
1. A brilliant way to start the year

Lily pulled her trunk off of the luggage rack making it thump heavily onto the seat beside her best friend, Prue Thornton.

Prue was a popular girl at school and out, like Lily herself. Her hair was blonde but was so light and shiny that it was more often described with three words: silver white blonde. It reached just to her shoulder blades and was usually worn down but in school, in a high pony tail or two pigtails. Her eyes were blue grey and surrounded by dark eyelashes and her skin was lightly tanned. Every now and then she hexed her hair to different colours.

"God, Lily, I swear you want to kill me today, you nearly knocked me out with that when you put it up there, now you want to crush me," Oh, yeah, and she has a right feisty personality, though I suppose anyone would need one if you were Lily Evans best friend.

Lily had brilliant green eyes, paler skin and auburn red hair that reached her shoulder blades in waves, slightly longer than Prue's but she had a kind demeanour, only when faced with James Potter would it change - where as most girls would swoon and even drool, Lily had a tendency to fly into a rage or a rant, Prue was one of the only other girls that didn't show much interest in the hazel eyed, black haired quidditch player. Despite this, the two girls had been friends since their first day at Hogwarts, they had both been meticulous for the first year but then Prue got bored. She didn't always wear her robes over her uniform and the first couple of buttons on her blouse were always undone and her tie was loose because of it. They also worked out at the end of their second year that Prue was psychic, though she never used the power before. In contrast, Lily kept up with her impeccable behaviour and they still stayed best friends.

"Sorry Prue, I thought you had moved to get yours down," Lily said, scooping her cat into the wicker basket on top of her trunk. Solari was a dark red brown Burmese cat that Lily had bought in Diagon Alley shortly before her sixth year. She had then had to keep the cat in her room as her sister was allergic (but then Petunia claimed she was allergic to magic so that didn't really say much)

Prue snorted, "I would have if Echo would detach herself from my hand."

Lily stroked a finger down Solari's nose through the bars and turned round. Prue was still sat down (though Lily had to give her credit for being in uniform – it was hard getting changed if your pet loves you too much to let go) with Echo hanging on to her index finger, quite happily still asleep – though she was nocturnal so nobody could really blame her.

Echo was a tiny Egyptian fruit bat, her body just as long as her owners palm. Prue had seen a special stock in the window and taken all of her birthday money, converted to galleons to buy her the same day Lily had bought Solari. Her wings were dark smoky grey, almost black but she had a fluffy body that had a pale underside and a slightly mottled stormy grey back and head. She was still quite young but already loved Prue to the ends of the earth.

In fact, it had been Echo's predecessor's fault that Lily had even met Prue at all (she called it fault but really, it was more a gift).

FLASHBACK

_Lily walked down the train back to the compartment she occupied alone with her run away cat but before she got there a small creature flew past her, quicker than was possible for an owl, and as she turned around to catch a glimpse of it, she noticed it was hovering outside the slide door of another compartment. Its soft dark eyes almost glowing with love as it threw its small fluffy body repeatedly against the glass to gain the attention of the compartment occupant. Deciding to help, she slowly re-traced her steps and reached out to open the door. The bat screeched slightly and somehow managed to attach itself upside down on the ceiling of the Hogwarts Express (don't get it wrong, Lily knew bats hung upside down, but not that they could on an almost completely flat surface). Wondering vaguely why she was talking to a bat, Lily whispered to it, "Don't worry, I'll let you in."_

_She slid the door open and the bat looked at her in thanks before swooping into the room. Lily was about to shut the door and turn away until she noticed the bat land on the seat and comically crawl until it was crouched beside the girl laid out over them._

_Worried, Lily entered the room and shut the door, putting Biscuit on the seat opposite and crouching down in front of the girl. Looking at her she seemed to be asleep and she was definitely breathing. Satisfied Lily stood up and scooped up Biscuit to leave, stopped by the girl's voice._

"_What's your name?"_

_Lily turned back around, "Lily…Evans, yours?"_

"_Prue Thornton," she sat up and pulled her sweater straight, stroking the bat as it crawled onto her leg._

_Lily smiled, "Is she yours?"_

_Prue nodded, beaming brightly, "Yeah, I bought her before I came here, her name's Midnight, she's an Egyptian fruit bat, do you want to hold her?"_

_Lily hesitated, she wasn't keen on small flying things, "OK."_

_She placed Biscuit back on the seat and with a trembling hand, stroked the bat that had been placed on her leg. Her slight reserve for bats vanishing on the spot, she smiled, "Do you know what House you're going to be in?"_

_Prue shook her head, "No one does; we find out when we arrive; do you want to stay here?"_

_Lily smiled accepting the offer and disappeared to fetch Biscuit's cage and her trunk. When she came back Biscuit and Midnight were sniffing each other curiously. They had spent the rest of the journey chatting and when they arrived, were both sorted into Gryffindor, along with the Marauders to be. Lily later discovered that Prue's family were mostly magical. All her family back for 5 generations were witches and wizards, save for her grandfather who was a much loved muggle._

Lily pushed the memory from her mind; Biscuit had died in her fourth year, a month before Midnight had too passed away, at midnight on Prue's lap. They had gone the rest of the year and the next without a pet and Prue had said, while crying her heart out into Lily's shoulder, that she would never get a bat again because of the pain when she lost them. However, when they had gone to Diagon Alley together before their sixth year, Prue saw Echo and bought her. As Lily had seen Solari and bought her.

Prue finally woke Echo and convinced her to go into her cage and quickly pulled her trunk down after closing the doors.

They gathered their things and left the train as they heard the rest of the students stampede down the hallway.

"Shouldn't you be stopping that, I mean, you are head girl," Prue teased, poking her head out to check the coast.

"Why would I stop it when I want to get out just as fast as them?" Lily retorted, sticking her head out too, "Go…now."

They both jumped into the throng of students heading for the platform.

They both sat through all the speeches and then the meal itself before Lily and James names were announced as the new head girl and boy (Lily scowled, James smirked) and the prefects stood to lead their houses to the dorms.

Lily and Prue headed up to the Gryffindor common room after dinner chatting peacefully and bantering back and forth. They flopped into chairs by the window and continued in a more subdued manner as many of the younger years were going to bed.

The Marauders entered last, laughing their heads off as they sat down in the armchairs around the fire.

"You know, Lily, this year is going to be one interesting one, I mean, we're 7th years now, we don't have a 9:00 curfew, and we can go to Hogsmeade every weekend, whenever we want, not just on planned days," Prue said, sighing happily as she looked at the forest. The window clouded up and Prue drew a small cat face in it. Lily giggled.

"Prue, we have had a 10:30 curfew since last year and you never abided anyway, but yeah, I really want to go on wanders when ever I feel like it."

Prue nodded gazing at the small village of Hogsmeade thorough the cat face as it slowly faded from the glass pane.

The portrait of the fat lady opened and the thin and erect form of the transfiguration teacher strode in. her black hair was still pulled up in its usual tight bun, topped with her emerald green hat, her matching robes draping around her loosely.

"Miss. Evans, Mr. Potter, I have been asked to inform you that the head's common room and dorms are being finished, they will be ready for you to move in tomorrow night," She said, stopping abruptly behind the sofa, obscuring Sirius and James from the girl's sight.

She stood still for a moment longer to check they had understood (she couldn't see James and Lily hadn't said anything) before spinning on her heel and striding out through the portrait hole. Lily and Prue didn't miss the square piece of parchment that had been pinned to her back and in big green letters announced 'KICK ME'.

Prue snorted, abruptly turning away as Sirius looked at her to see Lily looking angry.

"Don't kill them now," she told her friend, yanking on her arm and dragging her to the girl's dorm stairs, "Just sleep."

They entered the dorm and headed for their beds, the two in the corner by a big window that was level with the floor.

"Prue, you don't get it, I have to share a common room with Potter for a year," Lily said, pulling on her pyjamas.

"Just a year Lily - and you share a common room with him now," Prue said, slipping under her quilt.

"Yeah, but I also share it with every other Gryffindor in the school," Lily whined. She slipped into bed and glared out the window at the Hogwarts grounds, muttering sarcastically under her breath, "What a brilliant start to the year."


	2. And it just gets better doesn't it?

AN: the first chapter was to get a little explaining out the way, we go on now. This takes place the morning after the events in chapter 1.

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone save for Prue, I invented her and she's mine, everything else belongs to J.K.Rowling.

The morning after the return to Hogwarts, Prue woke up to a silent dorm. The three occupants in the beds on the other side of the room were fast asleep and Lily's bed was empty. Prue lifted herself off the bed and looked up at her canopy. Echo wasn't there so she assumed she was still hunting. She slipped from the bed and pulled a dark aqua towel from her wardrobe. She pulled out her uniform too and laid it on the bed.

Not much later Lily entered the room with damp hair and her uniform already on. She went to her bed, moving a sleeping Solari to the pillow so she could sit down and flicked her wand to dry her hair.

"You're up then?" she asked, smiling as she dragged a brush through the red waves.

"Hey," Prue retorted, throwing her pillow at her best friend, "we have forty minutes until breakfast."

Lily smiled, "I'd get in the bathroom while you can."

Prue nodded, took back her pillow and grabbed the things off her bed. She hurried into the bathroom with them and shut the door, not long after the sound of the shower drifted into the dorm and woke the rest of its occupants.

Prue finished quickly and returned to the dorm. Leaving the bathroom for the others, she scooped up Echo and gave her a kiss before letting her fly to the canopy where she proceeded to fall asleep.

They arrived early for breakfast and took seats at the end of the table, watching the already assembled Marauders out the corner of their eyes.

They passed with a bowl of cereal a piece and after Lily had detached her letter from the leg of the school owl, they hurried off for the first lesson of the term.

They took seats in the transfiguration class room before the bell rang and began pulling out their books and their wands.

"I'm glad we have charms later, it always makes me feel better after a transfiguration lesson with McGonagall," Prue whispered as more students began filing into the large room.

Lily smiled, nodding energetically, "Yeah, the concepts can be hard to hold on to sometimes. I find I have to put in tons of revision."

"What on earth are you talking about?" Prue snapped good naturedly (if that was possible), "You always come in right up there," she winced and jabbed a finger at the ceiling to prove her point, "with all the exams you take."

"You aren't the worst student yourself, should you really be teasing me?" Lily returned; smirking as Professor McGonagall strode into the room only just behind the Marauders.

Transfiguration passed quickly as did charms not long after, but they were already clocking up the hours that would be spent doing homework. They spent and hour in the greenhouses (Lily got bitten by a mandrake and Prue was attacked by the giant venomous tentacula – she hexed it and twenty points were taken from Gryffindor amid Sirius' clapping – she gave him the finger and Sirius shut up but retained a self proud smirk) then headed to the Great Hall for lunch.

The two girls sat themselves down and ate quickly so they could spend some time outside before lessons resumed.

They took a couple of toffees from the table and drained their glasses of pumpkin juice and left the hall. Instead they settled on the stone steps, chatting about their summer some more. Prue laughed as Lily said that she had accidentally hexed Petunia and as she turned back to look at Lily, noticed the Marauders making their way down the steps toward the greenhouses.

"We should go or we'll be late," Lily said. She vanished the toffee wrappers and stood. Prue nodded and followed her to the greenhouses for the second time that day.

Another hour went by in which Prue was again attacked by the enraged plant. She hexed it again (most regrettably she claimed) to Sirius' sniggers and quite promptly announced it was a threat to her life and she had acted in self defence (to which the teacher didn't seem to have a comeback other than 'please continue with your task') though Lily was not bitten by the now content mandrake (as it had a rather large mouth to body ratio and its gob was stuffed full of a satisfying amount of fresh soil). As soon as the lesson was over they headed for the dungeons for potions and the last lesson of the day.

They were given more homework to add to their ever growing pile (at the announcement Sirius flopped in his chair and Remus set off a firework into the closest Slytherin's cauldron in retaliation)as soon as the lesson was over, the Marauders leapt from their chairs and sprinted from the room. Lily and Prue packed up more sedately and left the classroom (if you could call a cold, dingy and water leaking room a classroom) last. They began walking down the corridor, but all too soon it became obvious that the Slytherins had waited for their exit.

Snape sniggered to himself as he watched the two girls. Lily was frozen with shock, concern and anger dancing in her green eyes as her best friend sunk to the floor, her fists pressed to her forehead and her arms touching down the forearm until the elbow. She looked as if she was in great pain but as she curled over on the marble floor, her body slowly began to morph. It changed shape, her skin going paler and her medium length white silver blonde hair merging into her back. She took her hands from her face and the grey blue of her eyes widened as her arms changed too.

Eventually, Lily was standing in a corridor full of Slytherins, all laughing and pointing at the pure white swan near her feet.

It had the purest plumage and black webbed feet to match the black beak that curved slightly upward. Her best friends grey blue eyes shone out most.

"Hey Lily," James called, running down the corridor with the rest of the Marauders on his tail. Lily, though she wanted little to do with the ego inflated git at the present time while her friend was in the body of a water bird, knew that he would probably have the best chance of helping her for this particular dilemma.

"Potter, I need your help," she said, glaring at Snape.

He skidded to a halt in front of her, blocking her view of the swan, now settled on the floor and glaring at the Slytherins, causing Sirius and Remus to abruptly stop behind him. Peter looked back at his friends and stopped too late, crashing into one of the pillars lining the corridor.

"You need my help?" James asked; something akin to amazement in his eyes. At Lily's nod he smiled, crossing his arms, "With what?"

Lily gestured at the swan and James spun on the spot to see it, "Prue needs help."

He looked back at the red head, now watching her friend, "That's Prue?"

Lily nodded again and he looked at the line of Slytherins, "Who?"

Lily whispered the culprit and then looked him right in the eyes, "I will turn a blind eye to any punishment in the next 24 hours if you help her now, the longer you leave it, the shorter you have before any pranks are reported."

James nodded and looked around at Remus and Sirius. Remus was watching everybody for a few seconds at a time whereas Sirius was watching the disgruntled swan.

James pulled out his wand and muttered a counter charm, watching as the 7th year girl slowly morphed back into her body. Her hair fell over her shoulders, as far as it could while still bound, partially covering the eyes that her dark eyelashes hid anyway as her skin took on its previous slightly tanned look. She looked up and smiled at Lily, frowned at the Marauders and growled at the group of Slytherins. She stood up and pulled out her wand, muttering swear words under her breath. The delicately swan feather and ivy engraved silver birch wand issued gold sparks as she stalked toward them.

Sirius reached out and tugged her back to the group, "Don't hex them now; put a firework in their cauldron instead."

"Let me go Black," Prue demanded, yanking her arm away from him with such force that she spun 180 degrees round, throwing one pig tail over her shoulder and making him fall back into Remus.

"Prue, your hair…"Lily stuttered.

"What?" Prue looked at the two pigtails she had separated her hair into that morning. Instead of being just long enough to toss over her shoulder, it was rapidly approaching hip length.

"It's still growing," said Lily, promptly destructing the charm and making her hair stop its rapid growth at her hips. She had also grown a tendril of hair that hung down the right side of her face to a little way down her neck.

"I can put it back the way it was," James offered, glancing from one girl to the other as the Slytherins slouched off, the show over.

"No," Prue decided, taking out the hair ties so the silver white blonde sheet fell loose, merging with the tendril at the front, "I like it."

Lily smiled and the marauders shrugged, James putting his wand away.

"OK, we have a prank to prepare, see you later," Remus said, dragging his friends from the two girls.

Lily nodded, "Come on, we have a ton of homework to do."

Prue reluctantly agreed and, shouldering their bags, they headed for the common room.

The Marauders entered some time later and slumped on the chairs not occupied by first years (though they quickly scampered off when they saw who was sitting in spitting distance of them), James shooting a barely masked glance of amusement at the table in the corner where Lily and Prue were chatting as they wrote essays. Solari and Echo were also perched on the table, curiously watching their owners.

The girls had just begun to pack up when a small boy walked hesitantly over to them. Across the room, James and Sirius sat up a little straighter.

"Um…is one of you, Prue?" he asked, looking at the ground and twisting his wrists around each other repeatedly.

"Yes, why?" Prue asked, shooting Lily a questioning glance, to which she shrugged.

"Um, there's a boy outside asking if I could get you to go see him," the boy explained, blushing slightly as Prue stared at him with her eyebrows raised.

"Well, go then," Lily said, ushering her out of the chair. She turned to the boy, "Thank you, I'll take it from here."

They boy scampered off to his friends and Lily pushed Prue to the portrait hole.

"OK, alright…OKAY! I'm going, I'm going," Prue conceded, flicking her now hip length hair over her shoulder so Lily had to lean back to avoid being hit in the face. She crept out of the portrait hole and Lily wandered back to the table to pack her friend's stuff up.

Echo wouldn't let her touch anything of Prue's when she was a baby but slowly the bat had come to trust her.

She put their bags on the table to be taken upstairs but didn't have a chance to sit down as the portrait hole opened again and Prue almost ran in, followed by professor McGonagall.

Prue's blue grey eyes were wide and she looked like she'd seen a ghost (though being Hogwarts, she probably had) as she ran over and dropped in the seat by Lily.

"Evans, Potter," McGonagall said, effectively bringing Lily's attention away from her stunned friend, "The head's dorms are now ready but as it is late, you will stay here tonight and as soon as lessons end tomorrow, you will meet me in the entrance hall."

James let out a mumbled 'yes' and Lily nodded vaguely.

The professor strode out the common room and Lily turned to her friend, "What happened, Prue?"

Prue looked at her, her eyes still wide, "I was asked out."

Lily circled her head a little signalling she wanted more. Prue elaborated.

"He was a Hufflepuff fourth year."

Both girls turned to the fire as Sirius snorted loudly, he smiled as he saw their glares.

"See, Thornton? It isn't just us that think you've got something special," he said, ducking the cushion Remus tossed at him and smiling.

Prue gave him the finger and he drew in a sharp mocking breath. The girls headed up to the dorm and as they settled in, Prue pointed out the change in her sleeping arrangements to gauge her reaction.

"Help me Prue! A year in the head's quarters with James Potter," she fell on the bed and pummelled her pillow into shape. Prue giggled. Lily huffed.

"It just gets better doesn't it?!"


	3. Homework is going to end the world

AN: **This chapter is set a month after the second in October** (we're getting through the year)

Disclaimer: Again, I don't own anything but Prue, actually I was checking my grammar on this update and it suddenly occurred to me that Solari and Echo are mine too. Apart from that, it's all J.K.Rowling's

Lily and Prue ran back from the Herbology greenhouses in the lashing rain. Lily carried her books on her head to keep her hair as dry as possible while Prue just ran behind her, wet and laughing. They got to the entrance hall and stopped, looking out at the rest of the class hurrying into the castle like a little army.

They decided to head straight into dinner then go to the common room to do their homework instead of change first and they entered the great hall before they were accosted by the class (not to mention Filch and his bloody cat)

They chatted through dinner, only briefly interrupted by Prue stopping to giggle at the table she could see behind Lily.

The Hufflepuff she had met outside the common room a month ago still had a tendency to shoot her forlorn looks at dinner (something that far from annoying Prue to the ends of the earth, instead amused her beyond belief) because she chose not to go with him to Hogsmeade.

They grabbed their bags at the end of dinner and made their way up to the common room where they changed into jeans and jumpers before heading down to do some work.

As Lily pulled things out of her bag, she counted the amount of homework she had to do.

_Charms essay, transfiguration essay, divination diary entry, potions essay, read chapter on Hinkypunks for revision lesson for care of magical creatures and write down all the steps to pruning a venomous tentacula for Herbology._

Lily sighed and Prue glared at her Herbology, she looked up at Lily with wide eyes, "How can she expect me to do homework when the blasted plant hates me?"

Lily laughed, "Just write down the steps."

Prue, muttering curses under her breath, grabbed a quill and began, reading out her words as she scrawled them across the page.

"Step one: attempt to end feud with plant in question. Step two: when that fails, bind said plant with ropes and proceed to gloat for an hour. Step three: use a muggle chainsaw to remove any odd or inappropriate branches as this will tend to cause the most distress to the misbehaving vegetable. Step four: when complete, leave chainsaw as a warning and reach doors before removing binding charm, any other way could result in bodily harm."

Lily was laughing as Prue stopped, her steps taking up the top third of the page leaving an almost blank sheet of parchment.

"Grade O for that I think," Prue said, tucking it neatly away in her bag. Lily knew better than to think it was a joke, she was going to hand it in but instead of an Outstanding for creativity, more likely a P, for Poor for vegetable cruelty.

Lily shifted on her seat and started writing her own Herbology essay that proceeded to take up a sheet and a half of parchment much to the astonishment of not only Prue but also Sirius who wandered over to annoy them with the rest of the Marauders.

"Shove it Black," Prue snapped, glaring at him.

Sirius ignored her, sitting down at the table round the corner from Prue and opposite Lily. James took the seat beside him and Remus the one beside Lily as Peter had fallen asleep in front of the sofa.

Prue promptly stabbed him with her quill. Lily snorted, Sirius jumped a mile in the air, Remus smirked and James allowed his chair to fall back onto all four legs with a bang, even on the thick carpet.

"That was uncalled for, Thornton," Sirius grumbled, looking at the ink trailing down his forearm.

"Actually, you asked for it by sitting there," Prue retorted, turning now to her care of magical creatures work so she could hide behind a book.

When she opened it to the right page (taking care to smack Sirius in the face as she did so) she noticed a small girl seated at the table by the window with books, quills and parchment spread out all around her. Her nose was currently buried in a book stating quite proudly 'Goblin Rebellions'.

"Hey, Lily, look, is she a first year?"

Lily looked up and past Remus at the girl then she checked the clock.

"It's gone nine, if she is she should be in bed, not doing homework, she'll be tired out tomorrow."

Prue shrugged and looked at the clock, "Saying that, we have 15 minutes and we need to go to bed too, especially since you have to go halfway across the castle."

Lily hit her with the text book.

Prue smiled, "that's it; I've read it."

She put the book down and grabbed some more parchment, setting to work on her charms essay, Lily followed suit, deliberately ignoring the Marauders that still sat by them watching their every move.

With Charms done in 10 minutes (James was amazed that they could go through homework so fast) Lily began packing up for the night. Prue piled her things on the table so she could do some work first thing the next morning in her free period.

Lily sighed slightly, "I've got to go or I'll be apprehended by Filch for being out after hours…do me a favour and tell her to slack up a little," she indicated the first year, "she'll go mental doing homework all night every night."

Prue nodded, gazing over at the student.

"Homework really is bad for the world," Lily stated, quite straight faced.

This time Remus' chair fell backwards and he stood from the floor wearing a bewildered expression as Sirius and James stared at her. Prue smiled.

"How do you work that out Lily?"

Lily checked the clock and sat in her chair again, "Well, Homework makes people over workers and anti social. Being an over worker means there are more people to go into industry business to pollute the world and being anti social means nobody meets anyone new so no one gets married and has kids to keep the population going. Eventually, the human race will die out and the world will fall into disrepair, and the best – or is it worst – bit, is that homework is all to blame."

Lily finished looking around the table with a perfectly straight face.

Remus snorted and Sirius actually laughed.

"I'm so going to use that argument in divination."

James shook his head, smiling and glanced at the clock, "Come on Evans, we have to go."

Lily frowned and bid goodnight to Prue before leaving without a backward glance. James followed shortly after.

She headed along the hallways holding a few books to her chest, her bag hitting her hip repeatedly with her stride. Though she had gotten used to going to sleep and waking up in close and quarters with James, nothing was helping her get any more comfortable with sitting on sofas with him, doing homework on the same table (hence the reason she was always in the Gryffindor common room until curfew) but the thing that still irritated and slightly disconcerted her was that every now and then, if she had gotten up late she would open the door and come face to face with the Marauder and clench her fists at his lazy smirk.

Lily had made sure she spent as little time as possible in the head's quarters and because she slept there, doubled the time and fun she had with Prue.

She slipped through the opened portrait after mumbling the password ('Gillyweed', to which the fat man holding a bottle of red wine – he was a stand in – gave rude retort containing a rather descriptive - and probably physically impossible - instruction for waking him up)

She sighed and entered, quickly running to her room and slamming the door behind her; this way she wouldn't have to talk to anyone.

Though she changed to her pyjamas and slipped into bed fairly quickly, it was a long time before sleep claimed her.

James entered the common room to see that Lily had headed straight to bed, only Solari was laid out on the rug in front of the fire, now only a pile of glowing embers that cast a warm glow on the room.

He sighed casting a glance at her door, "I never thought anyone could say that with a straight face," he whispered. Sighing he looked again at the resolutely shut door and said to himself, "Homework is going to be the end of the world."


	4. Lakes are to throw people in

AN: **This is set in November a month after chapter 3** thanks to the people who reviewed, it helps and in answer to the question 'When are they going to fall for each other?' – Well, all things take their time

Disclaimer: I own Prue (her surname is now Thornton as I realized the Character Prue Halliwell was a girl in the TV show Charmed, sorry), Solari and Echo, everything else is J.K.Rowling's

On with the story

Lily and Prue settled back under the small tree by the edge of the lake after being on the rocks for the last 15 minutes collecting stones.

"Look, this one's cool," Lily said, holding up a small grey patterned stone and rotating it in her hand.

"This one is better, look, you can skip it," Prue returned, fingering a flat colourful pebble.

Lily smiled.

Both girls were outside for the Saturday as, despite the fact it was November, it was very warm and the girls had shed their jumpers under the tree with their bags, choosing to wear nothing on top of their t-shirts.

Lily had tied her hair back into a high ponytail so she could see what she was doing on the rocks but Prue, who had left her hair tie behind, left her hair down so that it was blown all around her in the breeze coming across the lake.

Prue stood up and carefully climbed the rocks down to the edge of the lake then positioned herself; she carefully flicked her wrist and sent the pebble skimming the water, jumping up four times before plopping down into the depths.

Lily followed and flicked a pebble after her friend's. It jumped five times and then dropped loudly under the surface.

"Oh, you didn't," Prue muttered, picking up another flat pebble and skimming it again. She managed five before it fell into the water and Lily giggled as she took another go.

The Marauders were wandering aimlessly towards the edge of the forest after running from the kitchens with food but stopped before they entered the canopy, gazing at the rippled surface of the black lake.

Across it they could make out Lily and Prue, laughing as they each collected stones from the rocks and skipped them over the surface of the water, leaving growing ripples in its wake.

James turned to Remus, Sirius and Peter (Sirius didn't notice, too busy staring at Prue), "Shall we go join them?"

Remus looked at the girls then at the trees just in front of them, "Later, Prongs, lets go here and finish the food first; we can get more to take to them later."

James left the head girl and her friend with a final gaze and followed hid friends into the forbidden forest.

Lily and Prue had gotten bored of skipping stones and were now charming the pebbles so they were squishy and full of water then lobbing them at each other.

"Take that," Lily yelled as a pebble exploded on Prue, drenching her t-shirt. She quickly dried it with her wand and smacked one back at her friend. It hit Lily in the face and she was forced to stop battle to dry her hair.

Taking advantage of the situation, Prue grabbed another two pebbles and lobbed both. One hit Lily's newly dried hair and the other soaked her jeans.

When it became too wet to stand safely on the rocks without risk of falling in the water, they sat back under the tree and dried off then lay out on the grass with their books.

Lily became quickly engrossed but Prue found it harder to concentrate. She sat up against the bark of the tree and tried to read again, to no avail. She instead dropped the book onto her jumper and climbed nimbly into the tree, using the lower branches to get herself up and then going quickly to the top.

She used her left arm to move a branch aside so she could see the lake and a few leaves fell to the ground below.

The last ripples had gone from the water leaving the surface as flat and smooth as a piece of black glass. She pulled back her arm and turned around to the school as the branch whipped back into place, obscuring her from sight and making more leaves fall to the floor.

She pushed aside another branch facing the castle and the first thing she noticed were the Marauders heading stealthily through the courtyard. They disappeared not long after and Prue bit her lip as her mind ran through the list of things they could be up to.

She soon grew bored of looking at the castle through cover of half dead leaves and let that branch sway back into place as she climbed down skilfully. She had just dropped to the floor the way a cat would, her hair falling down after her like a blanket and brushing the grass. She stood up and it went over her shoulders and down her back as she remained standing, glaring at the approaching forms of the Marauders.

"Well Thornton, fancy running into you out here," Sirius said in a falsely cheerily innocent voice.

Prue scowled as Lily looked up, putting her book to the side.

"Black, do you have nothing better to do than annoy us all hours of the day?"

Sirius seemed to consider this for a minute, "Actually, no, so – how are you? Getting along with homework OK? Enjoying the last warm days?"

Prue sighed in defeat as she sat against the tree again, at the same time James and Sirius sat with them while Remus and Peter conjured a camping chair each, sitting down and inter-locking their fingers (they looked for all the world like a shrink does when they ask about a problem – expressions and all).

"Hey, Lily, what's the theme for the Christmas ball?" James asked, leaning back on his arms and smirking at Lily.

She exhaled sharply and opened her book again, "Just an ordinary late night dance, Potter."

"Do the head's have to dance together?"

Lily looked at James and glared straight in his hazel eyes, "Not if I can help it, now please go away so we can have the rest of our day to ourselves."

"Why would we want to do that?" Sirius asked, looking from his friends to the girls.

Prue sighed almost angrily and turned to him, "I don't care why you would want to but there is no choice – what she was trying to say, was bugger off!"

She poked him sharply on the leg and he retorted by punching her arm. She glared at him and smacked him with her book, hard.

With Sirius yelping in pain Prue looked up at Lily and they shared a silent conversation (being psychic helped during these times) before Lily re tied her hair in a tighter pony tail and Prue plaited hers. She bound the ends with a transparent piece of elastic and stood up with her friend, her hair still managed to fall below her waist.

They walked away and, as expected, the Marauders followed curiously.

They reached the slowly drying rocks and turned around. James and Sirius kept approaching while Remus and Peter seemed to think better of it and turned away, running back to the castle.

James and Sirius stood next to the annoyed girls and looked across the lake.

"Nice day, huh?" James asked, looking at Lily to his left. She looked at Prue, to her left and back at James, "Yes, wonderful, perfect for a swim even."

James barely registered her words before he and Sirius were pushed off the rocks into the ice cold water below.

Sirius let out a stream of curses as James brushed his hair out of his eyes while the girls stood laughing at them.

"See you later," Prue called, waving as she followed Lily back to the tree. They gathered their things quickly so as to be gone before they worked out how to get to land and ran inside. They followed the paths and corridors to Gryffindor tower and ran up to their dorms, laughing all the way.

Remus and Peter were settled back in their dormitory when James and Sirius showed up, both soaked through and looking like they didn't know whether to be angry or amused.

"What happened to you two?" Peter asked, sitting up on his bed.

"We were pushed in the lake, Wormtail," Sirius retorted, flopping on his bed and soaking the sheet.

Remus laughed, "So they got annoyed then, Prongs, Padfoot?"

James gave a noncommittal jerk of his head and Sirius didn't answer.

"You know what they say," Remus said.

"What do they say Moony?" Sirius asked, looking up from the carpet.

"That lakes aren't for pebble skipping, they're to throw people in."


	5. More to Christmas than mistletoe & snow

AN: **This is set in December, coming up to Christmas in the holidays**.

Disclaimer – I own Prue, Echo and Solari but I decided to introduce a new character. Kylie is mine too.

To those who have reviewed, thank you, it's nice to know how the story is going down and I'm glad someone thinks it's funny.

Sirius does seem to be in more pain from Prue than James from Lily because Lily seems a more docile person, especially in front of the teachers whereas Prue has a permanently feisty personality, James won't get off entirely lightly though – besides, Sirius is fun to write as an unfortunate character – just wanted to explain that

Prue dashed down the corridor, teeming with first years going to the Great Hall. She looked over her shoulder and slowed slightly now that the 7th year was no longer following her. She hared through the doors and up Gryffindor table, ignoring the faintly curious and shocked looks from the Marauders, and fell into a seat opposite Lily.

The red head looked up from her text book and smiled, her green eyes sparkling.

"You look like you've been accosted," Lily said, taking a gulp of pumpkin juice.

Prue raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms, "I was. Not even breakfast gone by and a 7th year wants me to go to Hogsmeade with them next weekend, a Hufflepuff too."

Lily giggled and looked up again, "So, what did you say?"

Prue glared at her in answer and filled a bowl of cereal, adding milk and sugar to it and beginning to eat.

"You haven't got a date for Hogsmeade," Prue said, ducking her head to her bowl to avoid Lily's glare.

"I'm not going, I need to plan for the Christmas ball," Lily said with a mock cool quality in her voice.

She returned to her book until her friend finished and then they both stood and began walking down the table to get to their first class.

"Lily! How are you?" Remus said as they passed the group of boys at the table.

"Fine," Lily responded without emotion.

James watched her while Prue glared off into space, completely oblivious until Sirius spoke directly to her.

"Well, Thornton, do we get our apology yet?"

Prue looked at him as her blue grey eyes slipped into focus, "No, so stop asking."

James and Sirius had been asking for an apology once a week, every Monday morning for the last month.

"Come on, Thornton, what did we do to deserve being thrown in a lake?"

"One more word, Black," Prue growled.

Sirius continued unfazed, "I mean, we were only-"

"Let it go, Black."

"And the water was freezing; couldn't you have thrown us in during summer?"

Prue suddenly looked at him her eyes widened slightly; he was concerned about the water temperature?!

She pulled out her wand and with a discreet flick, Sirius cereal bowl jumped off the table, throwing itself onto his face. Sirius flicked his head around, trying to get it off while milk flew out the gaps and cornflakes fell into his lap.

Prue stifled a laugh and she and an annoyed Lily left the hall.

Lily had disposed of her I'm-really-annoyed-at-Potter face as soon as Transfiguration had begun. Usually, she wasn't that keen on the subject but today the entertainment was top notch. She had been nudged in the ribs when the Marauders entered the room and seen James and Remus crying with suppressed laughter as they directed Sirius by voice as the bowl was still stuck to his face, preventing him from seeing where he was walking.

"Padfoot, over here," James called, smirking so much he couldn't pronounce his words properly.

"Where the hell is here, Prongs?!" Sirius yelled, his voice muffled by soggy cornflakes.

"90 degrees left, Padfoot," Remus called.

Sirius nodded and walked forwards, only to bang promptly into the door frame.

"That was 95 degrees, Padfoot," Peter said, sitting down at a desk.

"Thanks, Wormtail, Moony," he mumbled, finally sitting down (first on the floor then locating the edge of the chair).

Further more, Professor McGonagall seemed amused by a breakfast bowl stuck to the head of one of her students and didn't feel at all inclined to question why or how to remove the spell.

During the course of the lesson (they were transfiguring their school hats into different types) Sirius managed to turn professor McGonagall's emerald hat into a clown hat, complete with golden bells hanging from it, Lucius Malfoy's hat was turned into a muggle graduation cap and Snape's hat was turned into a hot pink, fluffy tiara – he claimed it was because he couldn't see (his hat on the desk hadn't moved and was still a black wizard's hat) but James could see perfectly well and transfigured Snape's black robes into a pink tutu – his excuse was that he looked worse than usual if his outfit didn't go together.

At the end of the lesson, James took his best friend to the hospital wing to remove the charm and the others headed for the second lesson.

The next morning Lily exited her bedroom in the Head's quarters and saw James with a ton of bags by the portrait hole. He was going to his parent's home for Christmas with Remus, Sirius and Peter. Inwardly, Lily was jumping for joy. For starters, all the Marauders wouldn't be there for three weeks, Prue had been given permission to stay in the Head's dorms with Lily – she had already conjured her own bed in the corner of Lily's room – and lastly, that left the two girls free to plan for and hold the Christmas ball without interruption.

She seated herself on a table at the back of the room and rubbed Solari's ears as she leapt gracefully onto Lily's lap.

James returned from his room with his broomstick and clutching a snitch (yes, the one he nicked in 5th year – you didn't think he gave it back did you?) he placed the items with his trunk and stood straight as voices drifted through the stubborn portrait.

"Look, I don't know the goddamn password, I just need to tell Prongs sumthin'," Sirius voice said angrily.

"The portrait is empty, Black, meaning no matter how much you yell at it, it ain't gonna open," Prue's equally riled voice said.

"You know, she has a point, Padfoot," Remus said reasonably.

"Thanks for the support, Moony," Sirius muttered loudly.

"Sure, anytime," Remus retorted.

"Will you both SHUT UP," Prue said and James and Lily could almost imagine Sirius and Remus' stunned looks.

"Now, LILY! Open the damn door," Prue yelled.

"Why Lily," Came Sirius voice, "Why not James?"

"Cos, dumbass, James is lazy, he is probably still asleep," Prue said.

James quickly headed to the portrait and pushed it open, "You lot are going to wake the dead."

Prue looked at him, Echo clinging comfortably to her shoulder, "The last ghost woke up an hour ago, 55 minutes and 32 seconds before we started arguing, and you must really want to go, you're up."

She slipped past him and ran over to a smiling Lily. James turned to his friends and snapped his fingers in front of Sirius who looked annoyed and amused.

It wasn't long before the Marauders were almost pushed out of the head's dorms leaving Lily and Prue to plan the Christmas ball.

Two weeks later saw the two girls in the head's dorm with the window sealed tight against the full blown storm outside.

"So, all done," Prue checked.

Lily nodded smiling, "Yep, OK, it is on Christmas day night, open to all years, you don't need a date (Lily and Prue had ensured this was acknowledged) starts at 7:30, finishes at 1:00. Food is first, dancing continues and then snacks, first and second years have to go to bed at 11:30, third at midnight. Band packs up at 12:30, did I forget anything?"

"No alcohol," Prue finished.

Lily nodded and smiled at the list, "I'll get it to professor McGonagall tomorrow; I hope she approves of us doing the hall ourselves, we have a week."

Prue nodded and looked out the window as a flash of lightning lit up the sky.

They had come up with a design plan for the hall in hours but deciding on rules that were both lenient and strict enough to be agreed with was harder.

They were going to carpet the hall with fake snow, save for the centre which would have an ice look-a-like dance floor. The pillars would be transfigured into trees and tables would be tucked around them at the edges of the hall. Lighting was going to be metal trays suspended in the air with colour changing flames designed to glow so that when the charm was activated, the hall would turn into a sort of disco.

Deciding they had planned enough for one night, they settled down and were quickly asleep.

Lily woke to a purring Solari and Prue's empty bed. She tossed the covers aside and – since James wasn't here – didn't bother putting on her housecoat before entering the common room.

Prue was sitting in front of the fire, her blue grey eyes lit up with a golden hue as she stared into the raging flames.

"Prue? What's the time?" Lily asked, coming to sit by her friend.

"7:15," Prue answered without moving.

Lily nodded and settled down to do homework

Christmas Eve passed very quickly and the rising morning, there were presents at the foot of beds for everyone at Hogwarts.

Lily and Prue were up early and quickly dug into theirs while Echo and Solari looked on curiously.

Prue received presents from family but the only thing Lily got from hers was a tissue (Petunia) and a box of muggle cookies, her parents really did try – they just didn't understand all that well.

They vanished the wrapping paper from the beds and spent the morning running round doing nothing then, they dressed appropriately (in jeans and camisoles) and headed down to the empty charms classroom.

They had been holding all meals in here as not many people from each year were staying for Christmas and so that Prue and Lily could finish the decoration for the Great Hall.

When they arrived, most of the people still at the castle had seated themselves down, with Professor Dumbledore at the head.

Lily and Prue slid into two of the four remaining seats and greeted the table.

Lunch was a quick affair and Dumbledore managed to elongate his cracker so he could snap it with a first year near the other end of the table. Professor McGonagall had exchanged her emerald robes for some dark red ones and she had a golden wreath around her hat brim.

The girls left the charms classroom and hurried back to the head's dorms where they grabbed the cheap summer dresses they had bought from Diagon Alley and strung them in the common room.

They spent the afternoon looking up hexes and spells to change the colour and qualities of the dresses and at 5:00, they both began on their costumes.

Lily transfigured her blue and white stripe dress into a floor length, emerald ball gown with a low back and plunging neckline. She also changed the arms so that they became translucent strips of fabric that fell down her sides.

Prue did her own so that the flower print knee length dress turned into a floor length gown in an eye catching shade of blue and green, though slightly more blue. It was strapless with a shaped bodice. Prue frowned at it and conjured a strip of white/translucent silk which she attached to either side of the top of the dress to then hang behind.

They heard voices approaching the portrait hole and glanced at each other. Lily grabbed the dresses and hared into her room while Prue grabbed the books and ran after her. She, however, didn't get there in time.

The Marauders all swarmed into the common room and they saw Prue.

"Hey, how are things?" Remus asked, waving at her.

She glared at them, "I thought you were at his place."

She pointed at James.

Sirius sniggered, "We were; only his parents got called to the ministry so we decided to come back here in time for the ball."

Lily returned to the room and Prue threw the books in behind her before slamming the door shut on their dresses.

The Marauders smirked, "Okay, we're going, you girls get ready."

And they all left again.

Prue glanced at Lily, who shrugged, and they both turned to Lily's dorm.

They took turns in the shower and then pulled on their outfits. Prue draped the piece of silk over her back and pulled her hair from under it while Lily fiddled with her black strips. They hexed each others dresses so that the fabric tightened, leaving the girls figures reasonably obvious.

Prue put small plaits in Lily's red hair and then Plaited the ponytail before twisting it up into a stylish bun. She held it there with magic and placed a green butterfly in it then she allowed Lily to make a start on her hair.

She pulled bits from the sides and plaited them, binding them at the back of her head and then plaited the small ponytail going down the rest of her hair. She wound small blue flowers around the braid and trailed them down the central plait. The last thing she did was hex her friend's hair so that it turned glossy black and then her eyes so they were a liquid ocean sapphire. Prue huffed and hexed it instead a just as glossy chocolate brown.

Lily used her usual make up but Prue who hardly ever wore it, went for natural, using only black eyeliner and mascara and a layer of lip gloss.

They wasted time until 7:30 then hurried down to the Great Hall, trying to avoid all males as they didn't have a date.

They gathered outside and caught their breath. Professor Dumbledore opened the main doors and the hoards of students began to rush in.

Prue and Lily took a step forward but before they could enter the hall, Sirius and James stepped up and took each of their arms respectively.

Lily looked angry and Prue looked ready to punch Sirius.

The angry red head spoke first, "What the hell are you doing?"

James shrugged nonchalantly, "Well, you are gonna get hoarded by guys, and we are gonna get bombarded with girls so we're sort of doing each other a favour, yes?"

Lily huffed and crossed her arms and they both turned to look at their best friends.

Prue and Sirius had begun with a staring match, moved on to Prue whispering insults while Sirius reversed them into compliments back and they were now hitting each other trying to inflict pain.

Lily raised an eyebrow and the two squabbling teens stood still, "What?!"

She shook her head and they all walked in together.

Lily slumped in her chair with a glass of water. She watched Prue on the dance floor with a boy she didn't know. The music was reasonably fast and Sirius was glaring in their direction. Prue had been asked to dance at least 4 times, this was the first she had agreed to though and Lily had been asked once (purely because James was giving a death glare to any male who came with in four metres of her).

She relaxed into the chair and smiled as Prue sat down, having left the boy on the dance floor at the end of the song.

"Well, it could be worse," Prue said, sitting in one of the many vacant chairs and folding her arms over her chest.

Lily laughed quietly, "It sure could, you been having fun?"

Prue looked over her shoulder at the boy she had left, "Not really, and Potter's affecting your love life."

Lily sighed, "Yep."

Prue smiled sympathetically and looked up as a shadow fell over the table.

Albus Dumbledore looked to a chair, "May I?"

Lily nodded, "Of course, Professor."

He seated himself and looked about him, "I must say you have done a marvellous job on my hall, and I trust my chair shall be return to the way it was?"

Lily smiled nodding. They had transfigured the head's chair into an ice throne to fit in with the rest.

"It is wonderful, but the cold is a sharp burst on reality - while looking around this place it seems un-real."

Prue chuckled and Lily nodded.

"Well, I shall leave you to be, thank you for a most pleasant evening," the professor stood up and smiled, eyes twinkling, as he walked away.

Lily turned to her friend, "Do you think he's a little mad?"

Prue nodded energetically, "Mad, but a total genius."

Another, slightly smaller shadow fell over the table and the girls had only just identified him before Prue was pulled from her seat and onto the dance floor, leaving the remaining shadow to sit with Lily.

Sirius pulled the hexed brunette to the dance floor, her fighting all the way and when he finally convinced her to actually dance, she hit him several times and they argued as they moved around.

They sat back down a while later, Prue looking angry and Sirius with a goofy smile plastered on his face.

James turned to the furious girl, "So, how's Kylie?"

Prue looked at him, "How do you know about her?"

Lily watched the interaction curiously. Kylie was Prue's little sister. She was eleven but Prue didn't talk about her much as she was a squib. Prue loved her but showing that was just asking for trouble at Hogwarts.

"We heard you talking with Lily about it," Sirius answered for his friend.

Prue gaped, "You were eavesdropping!?"

Sirius looked thoughtful, "I prefer 'being in the wrong place at the wrong time' personally."

Prue hit him and proceeded to ignore him for the rest of the evening.

As the night began to draw to a close, the tables were vanished and the trees dropped their snow, falling onto the head's of the remaining students.

Lily and Prue chatted as they assisted in the packing up while the Marauders stood by watching the party close down.

Lily and Prue turned to leave the Great Hall and were accosted by a group of magically animated bunches of mistletoe.

The Marauders laughed as Prue hexed them while Lily held her hands over her head. Prue sent one flying at the group with a banishing charm and they promptly shut up as she directed it into Sirius open mouth.

"You lot need a life!" she yelled, storming out of the hall. James sent a snow storm after her which Lily destroyed.

"She's right you know…there's more to life than mistletoe and snow."


	6. Furry Little Problem

AN: **This is set in January!** Sorry there has been such a break from the last post. I have got exams for two weeks and have had to revise, now they are nearly over updates will hopefully be more often crossed fingers. Thanks to my reviewers, I'm glad you like it. Things are coming together now – it won't be long for Lily and James. And what makes you think Prue and Sirius are going to get together? )

* * *

Lily left the Great Hall alone after lunch that day. Prue had run off to fetch her care of magical creatures book and was going to meet her down by the lake for their lesson.

She hurried through the school despite the fact she had over half an hour left of her lunch break.

Stopping on the bridge that spread over the dried out river that came from or to the lake, she looked out over the grounds.

The sun was reasonably high for January but the scuffled snow was almost gone, leaving big boulders of it in the middle of green fields where students (and even professors) had made snowmen.

Professor Dumbledore's snowman stood solitary by the main gates, wearing Hogwarts neutral robes and a hat. The neutral robes were the same ones that arriving first years wore before they knew what house they were going to be in.

She thought she could see Prue's figure walking in the direction of the lake and smiled.

The hair was a dead give away. It shone silver in the sunlight and streamed out behind her, lashing gently in the breeze.

She turned away from the view and continued walking down the bridge.

She met up with Prue by the lake not much later and wasted the rest of their lunch break running up and down on the ice.

The lesson passed quickly, even in the cool breeze, and soon they left the lake behind to hurry to the common room or the library in their free period.

Prue hurried off, not in the mood for an argument as the Marauders – minus Remus – approached.

Sirius had other ideas and with a smirk at his friends, dashed off.

Peter hung back hesitantly as James moved to walk beside Lily, who resolutely looked ahead and marched on.

"What do you want Potter?"

James smiled slightly at the floor, "Don't you want to know where Remus is?"

Lily exhaled sharply and shook her head, "I already do."

James looked surprised then smiled again, "Of course. Your Lily Evans, how could you not know?"

Lily stopped abruptly and turned around to face him, "What is that supposed to mean?"

James stopped too and back traced to stand in front of her, "Well, you're smart, you probably worked it out."

"What? That Remus is a-" she stopped of her own accord as students began to file out of classrooms. She turned back to the marauder and started again, registering vaguely that Peter had disappeared somewhere, "That Remus' Furry little problem is giving him a bit of grief."

"Yep, knew you'd know," James stepped back as several kids swarmed past to their next destination, followed by hoards more. James continued over their heads, "More than a bit, I'd say, quite a few scratches this time."

A first year looked at him oddly and James smiled as he realised everyone probably thought they were talking about a rabid rabbit that Remus owned.

Lily bit her lip, "But he's taking it okay though?"

She noticed the puzzled glance of a second year that quite clearly was asking 'Is it that emotionally painful to tame a rabbit?"

James shrugged, "I'm not really sure, I haven't seen him since he went to the hospital wing, but I think so."

Another first year actually stepped away from him this time, the look in his eyes as he left screaming, 'OMG, some dude has a killer rabbit that landed him in the hospital wing!'

The kid swarm died out soon after with only a few more spoken words to which a kid actually stopped and said to James "I know a good shop where you can buy really cheap books about taming wild rabbits, I'll get you one if you want."

Lily laughed and walked away. James caught her up a minute later, shock on his features and Lily smiled slightly, "I have to find Prue, see you later."

James refused to be shaken however and promptly followed her around the corner, "I have to find Sirius too so I'll just tag with you for a bit."

Lily sighed and continued walking with no other response. They ducked through a portrait hole and headed up the stone steps, through a wall that led them to the hallway above and as they turned the next corner a sensation like going through a warm waterfall swept through both the marauder and the red head and shouts echoed around them. They had stepped through a silencing charm.

The shouts were that of Prue and Sirius, buried deep in a yelling match that had the charm not been present, the sounds would have trailed all the way to the second floor (them being on the 5th). Peter stood at the side his wand flicking lazily back and forth and a tired expression on his face. He noticed them and wandered over, "They've been at it for ages. It was already full blown when I got here, so I put the charm up."

"Good thinking Wormtail," James said, chancing a glance round the pillar. He quickly withdrew his head as a jet of red light stabbed through the air where it had been a second ago.

They waited for at least another 15 minutes before all noise got quiet and there was heated whispering coming from where Prue and Sirius were.

Finally, Sirius stalked toward them, a small scrap of parchment hurriedly being stuffed into his pocket.

"Having fun?" James asked, clapping the dog on the shoulder.

Sirius shrugged, "Come on, lets go visit Moony, we're probably already late."

James and Peter shared a glance and followed a joyful Sirius to the hospital wing.

Lily walked around the pillar, taking down the silencing charms as she did so and saw Prue at the end of the corridor, stashing her wand in her robes and picking up her fallen books.

"Prue?"

"Hey, Lily," she answered, shoving all her supplies into her bag and swinging it onto her shoulder.

"Are you okay? You just had a first class yelling match with Black," Lily asked, falling into step beside her friend.

"Yep, but you have to come to breakfast really early tomorrow"

"Why?"

Prue smiled, "I set him a little challenge."

"In return for what?"

"I didn't need one, no marauder ever backs down form a challenge, but he'll wish he could."

The Marauders, minus Remus (still in the hospital with killer bunny wounds) filed into the 7th year boys dormitory and flopped back onto their beds.

"I am so zonked," Peter moaned, pulling a pillow over his head.

"Good for you Wormtail. It hasn't been that much of a terrible day though, "James rationalized, "Padfoot managed to have a fight with Prue and I had a civil conversation with Lily."

Sirius fell off the bed in shock.

He hastily sat back down and looked over at his best friend, "How did you mange that Prongs? What about?"

James lifted his head and smirked over at Sirius, "I don't know how but it was about Moony."

Sirius fell off the bed again.

James glanced at the clock, "Jesus, it's actually quite late! I have to get some sleep, night guys."

James rolled over and promptly fell asleep wearing his uniform.

Sirius poked Peter and then removed the pillow from the sleeping rat's face, "You'll suffocate yourself Wormtail."

Sirius sat back down on his bed and shoved his hands in his pockets. There he felt the parchment he had hidden earlier.

Pulling it out and unrolling it, he scanned the elegant writing.

Sirius fell of the bed.

"OH MY GOD!"

* * *

AN: I didn't finish with a line that has the chapter title in it but it seemed more appropriate to end this one here, next chapter: 

A conversation between Lily and Prue and you find out what Sirius is freaked about.

Sorry again about the wait!

I hate, hate, hate…hate exams!


	7. She Has Got To Be Joking!

A/N: **This is set the day after the events of the previous Chapter **- Furry Little Problem -

This is the chapter where things begin to change.

I'm really sorry for the wait, My exams finished but my computer blew up and I lost everything so I had to retype a lot and save what I could, It could take a little while longer to finish this than I intended, Sorry

Please review, it keeps me motivated.

-----------------

Sirius woke up as James pummelled him repeatedly with a large pillow that was leaking its feather stuffing all over the floor.

As he sat up and looked at his alarm clock he suddenly remembered why he didn't want to get up today.

The note.

Sirius sat up and picked up the slightly curled parchment from the cabinet next to his bed, glaring daggers at it and ignoring the tell tale signs that the rest of the Marauders were also getting up and ready for the day ahead.

This was bad. Bad with a capital B. She didn't actually think he would do this? Could do this? It was completely against his I-hate-snivellus-to-the-end-of-the-world religion. He was going to die.

-------------

Prue smiled as Echo crawled across the bed spread towards her, her stormy grey fur shining slightly in the winter morning sun. The grounds were still covered in snow so Echo didn't stay out as long as usual.

Prue picked her up and tossed the blanket aside, looking over at Lily's bed. Solari was curled happily next to the sleeping red head.

Echo flapped up to the dark scarlet canopy and hung herself there to sleep as Prue began to dress.

Saturday was always a welcome day. Lessons all through the week were exhausting enough without all the homework on top of it.

Lily stirred in her bed as Prue came back from the bathroom, her hair damp and loose. She wore a simple pair of faded jeans with a tan coloured pattern on the lower leg and a thick and too big powder blue woollen jumper over a tight tan coloured tank top. The weather was slowly improving.

Picking up her wand from the bedside cabinet, Prue dried her hair and hoisted it into a ponytail but securing it with a slide. She slipped her wand into her jeans pocket and smiled at Lily as she sat up, dislodging Solari who promptly began licking her paws.

"Morning, Do you want me to wait for you?" Prue asked, pulling her legs to her chest and wrapping her wool covered arms around them.

"Nah, you should go to breakfast, I'll meet you there and we can go down to the lake, kay?" Lily responded, tossing clothes onto her bed. A fleece hoodie fell onto Solari who scampered out from underneath it scowling at her.

"Okay, don't be too long," Prue stood up, "see ya, Echo," she walked across the dorm and shut the door behind her. She hurried down the stairs and almost collided with Remus.

"Remus-Oh, sorry. Do you feel better?" Prue asked, stepping back and looking at him.

"Yes, thanks. By the way I found a book on how to tame rabbits by my bed in the hospital wing this morning...do you know anything about it?" Remus answered.

"No, you may want to ask Lily...or Potter," Prue answered. For some reason, Remus wasn't as annoying as the others all the time and on occasion Prue could have a civilized conversation with him.

"Right...thanks, I should go up then, see you," Remus said. He edged past her but was impedded in his escape up the stairs by Sirius coming down.

"Thornton! I need to talk to you!"

"Ah! Bye," Prue ran for the portrait hole, ducking out of it and hurrying along the corridor. Sirius pushed it open again (the fat lady jumped in her frame and scowled at him as he let her slam shut again) and hared after her.

Prue ran down the stairs, down another corridor and through a tapestry but Sirius followed her all the way,finally catching up and slamming her against a wall (the man in the portrait nearby winced and then hid pointedly behind the largest book in the pile of volmes painted next to him).

"What do you want," Prue said, breathing slightly more heavily than normal.

"Why...that...challenge?Why?" Sirius asked, his breathing more laboured.

"Because anything else and you'd do it in a flash...I had to think of something a little more...awful," Prue answered fairly, pushing him away by the shoulders and leaning off the wall (the man in the portrait looked over his book) Prue stepped right into Sirius personal space (the man hid again) , "No one's making you do it, Black, but if you don't, the whole school will know you couldn't carry out a challenge."

Prue stepped back, smirked and continued down to the Great Hall.

Sirius caught her up outside and sat down next to her wordlessly. They began eating, Prue looking pleased with herself and Sirius shooting her death glares every few minutes.

Lily showed up not long after, the rest of the Marauders trailing behind her.

"You are not getting the sastisfaction of knowing you beat me, Thornton," Sirius whispered as the others joined them.

"Then do it," Prue whispered back, smiling at Lily who yanked the sleeves of her fleece hoodie over her hands and sat down, for once not turning pointedly away from James.

Prue said nothing.

"Hey, Prue, You free later for an extra parctice?" James asked, pouring out a glass of pumpkin juice.

"I guess, not this morning though?"

"Sure, after lunch," James clarified.

The group had started on their cereal (full english for Peter and Sirius) when the slytherins began making their way into the hall.

Snape came in near the end and Sirius took on a tortured expression as he hexed him to hold him still. Glaring at Prue, he vacated his seat and stomped moodily over to the paralysed Snape, mumbling curses all the way.

Sirius knelt down and placed a kiss on each of Snape's shoes before standing, bowing and racing back to his seat where he lifted the hex and downed a jug of ice water and half a pitcher of pumpkin juice then the rest of his breakfast without hardly breathing.

"Never, NEVER, again!" he said finally, glaring at Prue and then at the rest of the group, all of whom were fighting not to laugh.

-----------------

Lily and Prue left the table shortly after and hurried down to the lake, frozen over with a thin but strong layer of ice.

They started off their morning with a snowball fight, using magic to pile the snow and making forts. They also used magic to conjure ice skates and go out on the lake. Prue had been ice skating since she was small and taught Lily the basics on this lake in their first year. Each year, when the ice was thick enough, they came out and now Lily was almost as good as Prue.

They stayed by the lake all morning, playing in the snow and ice skating.

When they returned to the castle for lunch their hair hung in rats tails their clothes damp and covered in snow with crystal snow clinging to their eyelashes.

before they could get aprehended for trailing water inside Lily used her wand to dry them off and the drips on the floor before running to the Great Hall.

Prue had to change after lunch and she left Lily in the llibrary while she went back into the grounds and to the quidditch pitch.

She collected her broomstick from the shed and joined the rest of the team. James was captain and a chaser, Sirius was a beater and there was one fifth year and three sixth years, she was the seeker, since her third year when the previous one had left.

Practice was brief, James had organised the team well and everyone was working hard despite the weather so Prue found it relatively easy to focus and catch the snitch.

She left them to pack the balls away and flew up to the castle.

The rest of the day passed quickly and finally, Prue and Lily sat down in the little alcove where the window in their dorm was, Solari curled up on Lily's lap and Echo on Prue's knee.

It was late, the bell for curfew had long gone and the sky was black, stars blinking at them from over the top of the forest. there were a few lights still on in Hogsmeade village.

"Remus got out the hospital," Lily said vaguely, her focus on her finger, scratching Solari behind the ear.

"Yeah, I know, he was sent a book about how to tame rabbits," Prue said, remembering their conversation earlier.

"Oh," Lily started laughing, "Yeah, long story, but it was funny. Potter isn't half as annoying when he's worried about his friends."

"I guess, Lupin got out of the hospital today, He's not as bad as he was a few years ago," Prue commented, resting her head on the wall behind her and looking absently out the window.

"I talk to him now and then," Lily said, "We talk in the library sometimes and he's grown up...funny thing is...it's beginning to make an impression on Potter and Black, they aren't as mental as they were at the beginning of the year."

"Going soft, Lily?" Prue teased, "Think you might be able to see something in Potter after seven years of yelling at him down corridors?"

Lily didn't answer and Prue looked at her, blue grey eyes lighting up, "You are...going soft...aren't you?"

Lily locked eyes with her friend, "Maybe...If, and only if, he keeps going down the road to being sensible."

Prue backed down and opened the window slightly as usual, "Night Echo, see ya in the morning."

The little bat hung onto Prue's finger as she held her hand out the window. The little fruit bat sprang off into the cool night and Prue pulled her hand back in.

"We should sleep, I have to be up early tomorrow morning," Prue said, flopping onto her bed and quickly running a brush through her hair.

"What on earth for? It's Sunday!" Lily asked, scooping up Solari and placing him next to her pillow.

"Tom and Jerry, I'm going to the room of requirement to watch some before breakfast," Prue said, smiling as she placed the brush down.

Lily smiled, "Jesus, of all the things you could watch..."

She left the sentence hanging and settled under her covers.

Honestly, Lily thought as Prue blew out the candle by her bed, It would be easier if Potter and Black were acting like idiots all the time again...It would hold her excuse not to date him intact but that was beginning to crumble.

-----------------------

Hovering outside the girl's dormitory window on a top class broomstick and in a state of absolute shock, was James Potter.

He had been there since the girls had settled to talk and caught every single word, not that he had been eavesdropping...no...he prefered being in the right place at the right time.

It was only when the flickering orange light was blewn out and he caught the sounds of steady brething through the slightly open window that James felt safe enough to punch the air and let out a harsh whisper into the night.

"She has got to be joking!"

A/N: Once again, so sorry for the wait


	8. Valentine's Day sucks!

A/N: **This is set a month after the events of the previous chapter, We're in February now.**

It has been so long since the last post, for that I'm sorry but I do have a life outside of writing and now I'm in year 11 I've got a load of coursework, mocks have just finished and I have to sort out a college application, so, updates are going to be slow.

Sorry but I will endeavour to update quicker if I get more reviews…

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Prue pushed the door to the head's quarters open and smirked to herself as she saw Lily pacing up and down on the carpet in front of the huge fire muttering to herself, body tense and red hair falling over her shoulders.

This had been happening every time Prue found her best friend alone for almost the past month.

Prue was also convinced of the fact (Lily hadn't actually told her) that the reason for her conflict, was James Potter.

Lily's confession seemed to be a catalyst for that very thing. (It was like he knew, they had thought – blissfully unaware that he in fact did).

He had been well behaved for a month and it was wearing raggedly on Lily.

"Lily?" Prue asked, stepping into the room properly and flopping onto a chair by the fire.

Lily started, green eyes wide as her hair flew over her shoulder in the sudden turn on the spot to see her company.

"Oh, Prue, hi. Are you ready?"

Prue nodded. She wasn't especially wrapped up for the still cool weather for their day out, but the thick jumper looked as though it was doing some good.

"Okay, Lets go to breakfast," Lily scooped up her emerald green fleece and led Prue out of the heads dorms.

They made their way slowly to breakfast, watching snow fall from each window they passed.

It was quite thick outside and getting deeper, soon there would be too much to reach the green houses and an effort to get to the quidditch pitch. Hopefully it would clear up soon though; a match wasn't far away.

Breakfast passed reasonably hitch free, though James and Sirius sat with them.

Lily didn't seem all that bothered recently when this occurred, but Sirius' constant presence irked Prue no end.

This she constantly proved by the death glares and three days ago even prodding him with a fork (it turned into a hushed argument that Lily and James watched in amusement).

Prue and Lily were going to Hogsmeade together. Both had refused to go with anyone as they were keen to avoid the rest of the couples – hence arriving and leaving early – as today, as luck would have it, was Valentine's Day.

The village was quiet and closely resembled a Christmas card picture.

The cobble stones were covered in a thick layer of snow and light pink rose petals had been dropped all over. The roofs of each shop and the houses beyond were supporting their own copious amounts of untouched snow and windows were frosted up with snow nestled on the sills while a single snowman stood just behind the gates at the end marking the start of the residential side of the village.

And to add to the effect, small snowflakes were still falling onto every available surface including the girls so that the rose petals glittered under the few flakes that had already settled on them.

While it was like this it was really a pretty scene but when it was covered with footprints and the rest of the couples that made Lily and Prue nauseous, it wasn't nearly so appealing (again, hence the reason they were out here while everyone was waking up or eating breakfast – probably shaking with nerves about their date).

Slowly, inhaling deeply, the two Gryffindors made the first imperfection in the snow as they walked towards The Three Broomsticks, only just opening up.

They were quickly seated at a table with warm Butterbeer and their cloak hoods down.

Prue sipped her drink absently, looking out the partly snow obscured window and finally turned to Lily, lost in thought as she stared into her mug.

"So, want to tell me what's had you so tense lately?"

Lily looked up suddenly, green eyes wide, "What? Tense? I haven't been tense."

Prue raised an eyebrow at her and smirked, "Right, which is why you've been pacing up and down muttering for the last month – incidentally," Prue continued in a slightly higher note, "about the time since you told me that you're caving into Potter."

"I am not _caving_ into _Potter_," Lily burst out suddenly, almost choking on her mouthful of Butterbeer.

"Of course you're not," Prue answered instantly, all _too_ agreeable, "Who on earth would even insinuate that?"

Lily scowled at her but couldn't hide the smirk. All too soon she was laughing, Prue joining in.

When they recovered their breath, they noticed the couples beginning the trek to the village, so, deciding they didn't want to get stuck in here, both pulled up their hoods and left the table, walking out into the snow.

They spent quite some time wandering around Hogsmeade, avoiding as many couples as they could and finally retreating to the Shrieking Shack – the place couples were careful to keep from.

"It has a kind of solitary beauty, doesn't it?" Prue asked, leaning on her folded arms on the fence.

Lily shrugged, "Not haunted though."

Prue shook her head slowly. Both girls were all too aware of what really made the noises in the house.

"Why do you think people fear it?" Prue asked now.

Lily leant on the fence next to her friend, "People fear the unknown. If they don't know what will happen it makes them afraid."

Prue watched her expelled breath wisp upward with convection before replying.

"But if they don't know it will end badly, why be afraid?"

"Because fear itself is a haunting body, whether or not it exists at all."

"And yet people take risks," Prue murmured.

"And yet," Lily muttered in response, pushing herself away from the fence.

Prue turned her back on the snow covered house in the distance and faced her friend seriously.

"Lily, what has been bugging you so much recently? When ever I catch you alone you're always muttering, like you're having an argument with yourself."

"There's nothing wrong with arguing with yourself," Lily defended, smiling a little.

"No, there isn't, only when you lose do you have to worry," Prue smirked before falling serious again.

"Honestly, Lily. Alice told me the other day you were muttering curses at the bathroom floor when you were supposed to be in Transfiguration."

Lily sighed, "Prue…can you let me sort this out in my head before I tell you?"

Prue raised an eyebrow, "Usually you want me to help sort your head. Why the sudden need to do it alone?"

Lily opened and closed her mouth five times before growling through her teeth and letting her head fall back so her dark red hair tumbled down her back, dislodging snowflakes and sending them floating to the ground.

After a few seconds holding her head up, Lily looked at her again, snowflakes now settled on her eyelashes too.

Prue looked no better though, her hair almost completely white and dark eyes glittering with silver snow caught in her own lashes.

"I don't know," Lily finally answered her friend's question. I don't know. I just need to work this out for myself…please?"

Prue nodded and gave her friend a hug, "Sure, but I'm getting answers soon right?"

Lily nodded happily.

Slowly, the two girls made their way back to the main village.

The picture perfect scene was now blotted with footprints, the rose petals crushed underfoot, faces drawn in the condensation on windows with smashed snowballs against doors and stands in the front of shops.

"Come on, we can take over the heads dorms for the afternoon," Lily said, marching past a packed Honeyduke's.

Prue followed but they stopped again in shock only five minutes later after just entering the grounds of Hogwarts.

A bunch of Slytherins, Sirius' brother, Regulus and Snape included were being clumsily attacked by a group of very cold Bowtruckles.

The wand tree guardians seemed determined to get every wand from the Slytherins despite the fact the leaves on their legs and arms were coated in a fine layer of frost and one was shaking as it ran after a snide looking girl with long black hair who was currently letting out a high pitched wail.

Prue snickered but noticed that Lily hardly looked enraged as she nudged her in the ribs and pointed out something in the trees at the edge of the forbidden forest.

The Marauders.

Laughing and clapping as the Bowtruckles took the wands one by one.

Apparently the creatures had been caught for a care of magical creatures lesson and had just been released again.

Lily however, was unable to retain a scowl and soon she joined Prue, now laughing her head off.

"You know," Prue choked to her, holding her ribs, "Valentine's Day really does suck!"

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AN: There it is. Hopefully a little longer than normal. I am trying to update around school but it isn't easy. Please tell me what you think! 


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